Fighting Hawk (Playstation 2)

Vertical
Checkpoints ON
4 Difficulty levels
6 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Taito in 1988
Published by Taito in 2005

If it weren't for Fighting Hawk being included in a Taito compilation, many people would certainly think the game was yet another product from Toaplan. Of course there are some underlying signs that don't exactly click, such as the soundtrack that slightly resembles Master of Weapon and that typical font Taito used in pretty much all their arcade games of the time. But everything else screams Toaplan, in an explicit homage that's perhaps even more pronounced than that of Gekirindan.

Taito Memories II Vol. 1 "Joukan" on the Playstation 2 is where you can find a port of Fighting Hawk, also available in full TATE glory. My impression is that this game is quite obscure even among Taito's connoisseurs, a commercial failure that got lost amidst the glut of shmups that took over the scene in the end of the 80s. Although averagely competent, it stands in the shadow of heavy hitters such as Kyuukyoku Tiger / Twin Cobra and Hishouzame / Flying Shark, which in turn are its main sources of inspiration. This means, of course, that players who enjoy the gameplay of these Toaplan shooters will feel right at home with Fighting Hawk. 

Splitting tanks halfway into the 1st area

Getting used to the gameplay is as simple as it gets. One button shoots and another triggers a salvo of homing missiles while melting all on-screen bullets, acting like a variation of a life-saving bomb. As is customary in this series of Taito compilations, both inputs can mapped as you please in the controller, just remember that a turbo function is definitely needed for the shot button unless you'd like to mash the controller (and your wrist) into oblivion. Then it's all a matter of learning enemy and boss patterns, their reload routines and memorizing a few sections in order to get through them with less hurdle.

With six levels of relatively long duration divided in 149 "areas", Fighting Hawk plays out as if it had been designed between Tiger-Heli and Twin Cobra, only with a much less aggressive difficulty progression. And once you get your shot powered up by taking the upgrade items, the game also starts to resemble Flying Shark / Hishouzame. The difference here is that when maxed out the firing stream acquires a spread opening that's very handy to take care of enemy waves approaching from all sides. Besides the power-up, the item gallery also includes extra bombs, bonus medals (1.000 points each) and 1UPs. Extra lives are also awarded by scoring, the first with 60.000 points, the second with 180.000 points and then further ones at every 100.000 points you're able to achieve.

Besides regular memorization, in shooters like this one the most important thing to have in mind is to beware of sniping tanks taking you off guard. Most of the danger in Fighting Hawk comes from below, either from tanks approaching in parallel tandem or from large bombers that enter the screen with no warning whatsoever. That's why from stage 3 onwards it's only safe to hug the bottom of the screen if you know beforehand what's coming next. And in the last stage a sequence of 25 jets arriving from below must be destroyed before facing the dragon bat final boss.

Fighting Hawk's attract mode
(courtesy of YouTube user Replay Burners)

The path to the dragon bat spans all sorts of terrain. Forests, rivers, snow fields, urban and industrial terrains, sea. Enemies include all sorts and colors of tanks, turrets, floating rafts, boats, helicopters and battleships. The overall emphasis is on a military background, yet weird stuff appears every now and then, such as the race cars in the snow stage.

The notion that the game is a much tamer variation of the Twin Cobra formula is definitely helped by the generous assortment of bombs. There are checkpoints, but with five fresh bombs for each new life any of the bosses or mid-bosses can be easily bomb-spammed if you don't want to take any chances. The only advantage of preserving bombs is to take the end-of-stage bonus of 1.000 points for each bomb in stock. In addition to that, whenever you have shot or bomb maxed out (5 bombs in stock), any respective in-game item is automatically spawned as a medal.

Click for the option menus translation for Fighting Hawk on Taito Memories II - Vol. 1

In the balance between survival and scoring, there's also the possibility of exploiting checkpoints, but this has to be well planed. Some of them send you relatively back, others allow the progress of the credit in an easier fashion. In the end, Fighting Hawk grants a final bonus of one million points for completing the game.

Below is my final 1CC result for this mild Toaplan copycat. It was fun for the ease and the diversion, definitely a recommended break of similar style if the likes of Twin Cobra or Flying Shark seem temporarily insurmountable.